Prepare 2015


As I was praying about 2015 the word Prepare kept ringing in my mind. Starting January 1, 2015 for 30 days I will study the word Prepare in the bible. I wonder what lessons, promises and examples I will discover?
Will you join me for the next 30 days in preparing your heart for whatever God has for us?
Day 30
Day 31

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New Year New Perspective


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This time of year people start making lists of what they want to do, make or be in the new year. Often this includes, diet, exercise, saving money, paying off debts, vacations, taking a class, finishing long overdue projects and more. My mind has immediately jumped into the planning mode of how I can exercise more, complete a whole 30 eating plan, clean my house, organize my classroom, plan lessons, launch a new women’s program and more! Plan, plan, plan! I am tired and it hasn’t even started.

Two become One

one
Weddings are so special. Yesterday my family participated in one of the biggest miracles that God offers us, two people becoming one.
But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one fleshSo they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” Mark 10:7-8
Sarah and Billy entered into a new relationship where God took their individual lives and melded them together as they stood there in front of all of us. A miracle in our presence.  May God richly bless them as they navigate this new adventure together.
It is not the only time that we experience a oneness because of God’s miraculous intervention.
When we first believe in Jesus the bible says that we are given the Holy Spirit.
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:38
Then as a fellowship of believers we also experience Oneness.
The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.  For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body–whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free–and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. I Corinthians 12:12-13
This brings me great joy! The body of Christ all over the world has become my family. No matter where I find myself I have brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, even grandparents. Thank you Father for this great blessing.
Jesus takes it one step further with each of us who enter into a relationship with Him. He makes His home in us.
 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. John 14:23
The two shall become One. What a blessing, what an honor that the God of the universe would come and dwell with us, giving us the blessings of unity and companionship.
Prayer
Thank you Jesus for unity, oneness, family and joy.

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Looking Forward Looking Back

Joy2015 really? How did that happen? Just yesterday we were all freaked out about Y2K! Hard to believe that was so long ago! On Facebook they have been compiling a year in review for everyone.  I wonder how they go about choosing what is included? This last year I have had some fabulous experiences and some painful ones. 
God has blessed our lives with both pain and joy. They seem to go hand in hand. Often on the same day we may experience a roller coaster of emotions. 

Names of Jesus

Jesus Is my everything!

To some that may sound so immature or weak. To others it resonates because they know of His love and redemption. While I have been studying and reflecting on His names I have been so encouraged because of who He is





Years ago when my faith journey began I had to wrestle with the decision to surrender all of my life to Jesus. Daily I must go back to Him and re surrender because I keep taking areas of my life back. Reviewing His names has reminded me that I need to once and for all raise the white flag and unconditionally surrender.

Today I will Surrender my
will
emotions
attitudes
family 
schedule
money
career
relationships
life

Jesus is constantly beckoning me to come and rest in Him. When I surrender that is what happens. I find rest. 

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Matthew 11:28-30

Jesus Friend of SInners

This might be a surprising title for Jesus. but when you examine his life you see the patterns that were so consistent in this every day living. whenever Jesus found himself in a group of people it was like he gravitated towards those who needed him most.
When he called his disciples it was interesting to notice that he called fisherman, tax collectors and others who weren’t exactly perfect men!
Think about people he spent time with;
Prostitutes
Adulterers
People who are sick, blind, lame, even demon possessed
Tax collectors
Samaritans
When ever it seemed like Jesus had time to himself he was in the midst of sinners.
Jesus friend of sinners means he wants to spend time with us.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Personally I am so glad that he is a friend of sinners! If he hadn’t we would have no chance of ever spending time with him.
Today as we prepare for Christmas may you be overwhelmed with the thought that Jesus is your friend may you bask in the knowledge that he loves you may you experience his closeness as you prepare to worship him.
While you were yet sinners Christ died for you.
Prayer
I am a friend of God! Thank you Jesus for making this possible and for loving us in the midst of arson thank you that you came so long ago to save us to redeem us to restore us to make away we love you amen.

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Dec 23 Jesus Our Cornerstone

Capstone 
cap·stone [ káp st-n ] cap·stones- Plural (NOUN)
1. Top stone: a stone used at the top of a wall or another structure
2. High point: something considered the highest achievement or most important action in a series of actions


The first stone (or the cornerstone) is the foundation because it is the stone that all other stones will be set on.

Think about what this stone does! 


It sets the 

  • level
  • angle 
  • outer dimensions of the building

The stone had to be accurate and true (level) so that all the other stones could be set from it.  If this was not true then there was a possibility that the walls of the building could lean and fall over.

Dec 22 Jesus holds the Keys






image To say that yesterday was stressful is an understatement. My mom, her friend Dale and I left for Michigan at 9:00 am and flew to California. We have been planning this trip for months and were so excited to be able to share Christmas with my daughters and our family. Traveling with two older people can be challenging. For example,
Walking anywhere took much longer than I thought! I am so thankful for the moving sidewalks in Denver!
When they have to go the bathroom, look out, because nothing can stand in their way!
If they have dementia, the afternoons can be extremely confusing. Several times in the afternoon my mom asked, “where we are going?” This was so hard because we have been planning this trip for months. I wish I had a Key that could open her mind.
This morning I am confident that Jesus who is the Key, can open any door.
I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. Revelation 1:18
Then I will set the key of the house of David on his shoulder, When he opens no one will shut, When he shuts no one will open.  Isaiah 22:22
Prayer
Jesus, the holder of the keys, I put my Trust in you when all the doors seemed locked. I praise you for reminding me that you are in charge and I can trust in you.


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Dec 21 The King


king

What if we had this kind of excitement about seeing Jesus? What if every time we went to worship our hearts and souls exhibited this response to being in the presence of Jesus? What if we treated Him, the coming King with uncontrollable abandon?
For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of PeaceIsaiah 9:6

Dec 20 Great Physician



One weekend when my husband was away for several days I decided to cook up a storm of food.  My supplies were gathered and the recipes were close at hand. Several things had already been prepared and were cooking in the oven.  I turned my sights onto the next recipe, Sweet potato casserole. After browning the hamburger it was time to cut the slices of sweet potato.  I took the mandolin and began the process. Putting aside the hand guard because it was difficult to use I began to slice the sweet potato. Then it happened! I sliced a chunk of skin off of my right hand. Immediately I knew that I had done a terrible thing. there was blood everywhere even after I had pressed a paper towel onto it. After calming down and sitting all by myself for an hour I decided that there was no way that I could fix this and that I needed a doctor. I drove myself to the ER and was amused by the responses the doctors and nurses had. As I was sitting in the hospital room, people would come by and peek in at the silly women who cut her hand! After the doctor stitched up my hand I made a note to myself, the guard is there to protect us!  Needless to say from now on I use my food processor to slice things!

We all need a healer 

On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." Mark 2:17

Jesus is our Jehovah Rapha


The word Heal in the bible also can be translated as Physician. The word rapha means to heal (both figurative and literal healing), to make whole, to restore to normal (restore health), to cure, to repair.


He is both the physical healer and spiritual Healer. 

Examples of Physical healer in the Old testament

1Kings 18:30  Elijah repaired the altar of the Jehovah which had been torn down".

2 Kings 2:21 Elisha threw salt in a spring of water and declared, "I have purified these waters; there shall not be from there death or unfruitfulness any longer." 

 I Samuel 1:9-20 Hannah was healed of barrenness.

Numbers 16:46-50 Aaron prayed for the plague to stop.

The Old Testament points to a new type of healing in Malchi 4:1-2


Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the LordAlmighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name,the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays.
The New testament is also filled with Healings

Jesus touched people and healed their physical sickness. Whether they were blind, lame, dead, bleeding or demon possessed they were made whole.

Jehovah-Rapha is the one who restorers us. He heals not only our physical illness, but also the pains that are in our heart and soul.

He can heal you of

emotions
depression
memories
addictions
compulsions
grief

 When we are emotionally overwhelmed, depressed, anxious, grieving, or distressed, God is there for us. Only God can repair a broken heart. Only God can purify an unclean soul. Only God can set us free from addictions. Only God can heal us of sin. 

He [Jesus] himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. 1 Peter 2:24.



He is still "JEHOVAH-RAPHA" the “Lord that Heals!”

To read more of my healing story My Healing.

Prayer

Lord we thank you for coming to heal us. to make us whole again. We trust you to heal us physically and spiritually. You are the medicine that we need. We praise you for being Jehovah Rapha.

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Dec 19 The Gift


Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water. John 4:10


Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” 2 Corinthians 9:15


Jesus comes to earth in human form as a baby. We read about him as a babe lying in a manger. An Angel foretold His birth to Mary and the angels declared that the newborn king has arrived.

Wouldn't you love to see the footage of Jesus as a baby? Did he do all of the baby things? cooing, spitting up, diaper changes? Was He a normal inquisitive child who asked why, why, why? Was He fully child and fully God with full knowledge and understanding of heavenly things? Or did God protect him from these things until He was a little older?

Dec 18 The Amen





Have you you ever been listening to a sermon and just thought, Yes, that is so true? You just want to say Amen! We say it without even thinking about it. It's just what we say! There is so much meaning behind this word. It is found 78 times in the Bible. It shows up first in the Book of Numbers, and then for the last time in Revelation 22:21


As a Hebrew word it means, “surely, indeed, truly.” The root word is "aman" which denotes “to be firm, steady, trustworthy, faithful”. I love that it sounds the same in English and in Hebrew! Amen.

We use this word to say, Let it be so! I believe this to be true! Yes Lord do it! Throughout the Old Testament we see it used as a response to blessings or curses.

Praise be to the LORD forever! Amen and Amen. Psalm 89:52

God is called the "God of Amen" ('Elohe 'Amen), He is the God of truth 
(Isa 65:16). 

Dec 17 I AM



Jesus declares that He is, I AM multiple times

I am the bread of life
I am the light of the world
Before Abraham was, I am
I am the door
I am the good shepherd
I am the resurrection and the life
I am the way, the truth, and the life
I am the true vine

John 6: 35, 48 John 8: 12, 9:5 John 8: 58 John 10:9 John 10:11 John 11:25 John 14:6 John 15:1


I Am is the name of God. 

Dec 16 Lord of Glory

glory
Glory
His Glory revealed
shekinah glory
Gloriousness
Gloria in excelsis Deo
The Glory of God
Jesus is the shekinah Glory of God. The shekinah was the old testament word for the visible manifestation of God. When there was a cloud that followed the Israelites it was God’s shekinah, His presence. Jesus is God’s shekinah, His presence where we see God’s full majesty and beauty.
And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18
If we are made in the image of God and we are partakers in Him, then we are glorious creations!
There are days that I feel less than glorious! Those days when the wrinkles show up a little more, sagging happens, things jiggle that have no business jiggling, My arms, go wiggle, wiggle, wiggle! When did that happen to this body?  It is Not glorious!  The skin gets older, less elastin, it wears out. I wouldn’t call it glorious.  This body that God designed is glorious and we are partakers in that!
glory2
You are a glorious creation, made by God who is himself Glory defined.We have become glorious because Jesus has redeemed us, renewed us, made us glorious.  One day we will have new bodies singing, “Gloria in excelsis Deo”  before the Lord! 
There was a time in my life when the last thing that I felt was glorious. There was shame, feeling like an outcast. I wasn’t pretty enough, thin enough, not liked enough, not whole enough, UNGLORIOUS. Then I met the savior Jesus the Glorious one, who came and told me that I was His beloved, I was beautiful in His eyes, created by His design, that He made me this way on purpose and He found delight in that. He gave me joy that has never gone away. I am not the prettiest girl, the smartest girl or the most athletic but I am loved and called glorious.
I am sure that you have felt unloved and inglorious, we all have those days, months, seasons.  Take heart, Jesus Himself the Glory of the Lord, says, “I have redeemed you and I see you and You are Glorious”!
Prayer
Oh lover of our sole, the glory of God revealed to us, the one who calls us by name and have given us the name glorious we thank you that you see in us what we can not see.  That you love us and delight in us. Remind us that we are made in the image of God.  I delight in the fact that You delight in me. Amen



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Dec 15 Provider



It takes faith to believe that God will supply all of our needs. He has done this over and over for our family. The more we ask Him to be present in our lives and provide for us, the more we see His hand at work.

I'm not talking about demanding that God give us things. I am suggesting that we invite Him into our everyday lives and look for the ways that He supplies our needs.


JehovahLast year on our way to the airport we received an email from our friends in Colombia. We were taking a team of students on a mission trip and the email was asking that we teach an English class to a group of YWAM students. I am a teacher by profession and I could have brought suitcases full of supplies for this training. Unfortunately we were 2 hours away from my home and there was no possible way to get any supplies in this short of time! Jesus had already provided for our need! A week before the trip, one student was unable to go and a friend of mine who also was a teacher filled the spot! It gets better because she had also gone on a previous trip where we taught English for the whole week.  God knew that we needed 2 teachers he had supplied our need before we even asked! 




And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19 

 God is called Jehovah-Jireh the Provider - Genesis. 22:14, I John 4:9, Philippians 4:19
  • Abraham saw God be the provider when He provided a ram instead of his son. Right behind where the altar was a ram was in the thicket!
  • God provided Jesus as our sacrifice.
  • Jesus Provided the Holy Spirit for us so that we would have another helper
Not only is Jesus the provider He is the one that was provided! He is the living fulfillment of God's promise!

Jesus wants to provide for you, will you ask Him to?  He is faithful and true. He can be trusted.                                              

Where can you ask Him to provide for your needs? His provision could be right behind you, all you need to do is ask Him to show you His provision. He loves to give gifts to His children.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17

Prayer Jehovah-jireh, we thank you that you see our needs. You are our great Provider! We trust in you because you are faithful!

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Dec 14 Our Refuge


These last few years have been difficult for me. My mother has changed from a strong, independent, knowledgeable woman into a sometimes confused shadow of herself.  She has dementia. At first I shrugged it off, "She's just getting forgetful" I told myself. Now I know that she has dementia and never will be the same. It can be hard to have a conversation with her that requires detailed information and recall. My mother in all the ways that I used to know her is now gone. 

Sometimes it is too much to bear. I need a refuge! I need a place to just hide away from the feelings of sadness that I feel. I am grateful that Jesus has become my refuge! He provides a safe place that I can go to share my feelings and be reminded that He loves me and my mom. 

"O taste and see that the LORD is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him, Psalm 34:8

Dec 13 Alpha and Omega

"Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god" Isaiah 44:6

And he who sat upon the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." Also he said, "Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true." And he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. Revelation 22:13

Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, and omega is the last letter of the alphabet. God is "the beginning and the end." Everything in-between is subject to Him!

I take great comfort in knowing that Jesus goes before us. He has been with the Father since the beginning and will be forevermore. 


For you shall not go out in haste,
and you shall not go in flight,

for the Lord will go before you,
and the God of Israel will be your rear guard. Isaiah 52:12

Jesus leads us into every situation, going before us to make firm ground, smooth out the wrinkles, making a way. He creates peace where there has been conflict. Ask Him to go before you and He will! 

He also is your rear guard, He brings resolution where there has been confusion, He protects us and brings closure. Ask Him to be your rear guard!


Dec 12 Author and Perfecter of our Faith



fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2

Jesus came to earth as a baby small and pure, fully human and fully God. He was before all things and in Him all things hold together. 

Jesus is the Author of our faith. The Greek word for author is archegos - a combination of the word for beginning/power and the other word to lead, bring forth, and carry.  Showing us the way. 

Dec 11 The One and Only






I had a dream last night that was so funny. We were having a holiday dinner with just a couple of friends.  I was serving a small turkey and it was browning nicely in the oven.  Things began to get a little tense as more friends began to arrive than I had planned for.I asked my husband to run to the store and purchase another turkey that I could cook. When he returned I opened the bag and was shocked to see the words Squirrel meat! Really! I honestly think it also said, Not road kill, as if that would make it better! Dreams are funny! My husband went back to the store and this time returned with fresh salmon. Then I woke up! What I wanted was turkey, it was the one and only thing that I asked for! 

I have know idea what the meaning of that was, but then this morning I thought about Jesus being our one and only.

He is the one and only, the one that the Prophets foretold the one to come
the one and only son
the one to come
the one and only one to forgive us of our sins
There is no substitute for Jesus!
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